. the second debate in the battle for the white house was political confrontation at its best. >> there were a whole bunch of oil companies -- >> i had a question and the question was how much did you cut them by. how much did you cut them by? >> not true, governor romney. >> by how much did you cut them by then? you'll get your chance in a moment. i'm still speaking. and the answer is i don't believe people think that's the case because -- that wasn't a question. >> completely off the -- >> we're talking about immigration. >> i came back to what you spoke about abobefore.

it is the morning after and while both sides will claim victory, one thing everything is agreeing on, the president showed up and he had something to prove. according to a cnn orc flash poll, 46% of registered voters thought president obama did the better job compared to 39% who put ghuf romney on top. that is a stark contrast from the candidate's first showdown in denver when 67 % gave romney the win. in abc' poll, 37% gave obama the victory. and this debate covered a lot of ground. steve handelsman has that story from the campus of hofstra university in new york. steve, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, lynn, thanks. good morning. both these candidates last night in their second debate seemed on

their game. this was high stakes. barely polite. a political brawl. >> very little of what governor romney just said is true. >> reporter: determined to stop his slide in the polls, president obama hit hard from the start. >> governor romney says he has a five point plan. governor romney doesn't have a five point plan, he has a one point plan and that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. >> reporter: governor romney hit back, a sharp exchange on energy. >> in the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on on federal land and federal waters in half. >> various deduction yous -- >> reporter: this uncommitted voter asked about taxes and the debt. >> i said i would cut taxes for middle class families and that's what i've done. >> i will not under any circumstances reduce the share being paid by the highest income taxpayers. >> settled? >> no, not settled. >> reporter: nor was the issue of libya. >> it took them a long time to say this was a terrorist act by

a terrorist group. >> suggestion that any in my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> reporter: michael jones, an obama voter in '08, and now -- >> i'm not that optimistic. >> we've created 5 million jobs. gone from 800,000 jobs a month being lost. and we are make progress. we saved an auto industry that was on the brink of collapse. >> reporter: median incomes down $4300 a family and 23 million americans out of work, that's what this election is about. >> reporter: this debate was about the sharpest of differences. now the voters weigh in with the race virtually tied and election day three weeks away. from the campus of hofstra university, i'm steve handelsman, nbcs news. lynn, back to you. well, nbc's andrea mitchell has been leading our troop squad during these debates and last night she spoke with brian williams and they began with that disagreement you just heard over domestic energy and oil

production. >> oil production did fall by 14% on federal lands on shore and offshore, brian. but that was only in one year from 2010 to 2011. and it was largely the result of fallout from the deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico. but mr. obama is right that since he took office, oil production on federal lands is up. in both 2009 and 2010, oil production increased so even with the 14% drop last year, overall production on federal lands is still up. 10.6% since 2008. one other thing in terms of natural gas production, natural gas production on federal lands is down. and has been declining since 2003. according to the energy information administration. mainly because of a decline in offshore natural gas drilling. >> another topic early on, what did mitt romney say and when did he say it about, quote, letting detroit go bankrupt, more specifically general motors, the

president kind of threw town on that topic tonight. >> well, the president was referring to a newspaper piece that mitt romney wrote back this 2008, but the governor never actually said let detroit go bankrupt. that was the headline by the newspaper. but what romney has been saying, that he was in favor of a managed bailout, a managed bankruptcy where private investors would go in and bail out the auto companies. but the fact is mr. obama is correct about the fact that most people agree private companies were not about to invest in detroit back then, only the federal government would. and last night during msnbc's special debate coverage, senior obama adviser david axelrod explained to lawrence o'donnell why the president was determined to call out romney on his 47% comment. >> i think he was unwilling to accept governor romney's explanation that this long explication in front of a closed door audience on the 47% was

some sort of misstatement. it clearly wasn't. it was statement of philosophy. it's a philosophy florida animates all of his policies and positions. and it is "discovery" danefuldl. so the president was determined to raise it, but it wasn't clear where in the debate it would come. >> the last word with lawrence o'donnell airs week nights at 10:00 p.m. only on msnbc. with just five days to the third and final presidential debate in florida, today president obama travels first to iowa and then to what may be the deciding state of this entire election, of course that would be ohio. paul ryan will be in the buckeye state, as well. he will be joined by former secretary of state condi rice. romney heads to virginia. biden campaigns in colorado and nevada. and an early victory for the obama campaign. the supreme court cleared the way for early voting in ohio on the weekend before the election.

in a con sentence order, the high court let stand an appeals court ruling that requires early voting be offered to all ohio voters in those final three days just before the election. of course in 2008, 93,000 voters cast their ballots in the final three days of ohio's early voting including a surge of minority voter. there are now 32 states and the district of columbia that allow early voting in person. and here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. let's begin with this violent scuffle it was philadelphia's oktoberfest. a be man arguing with police slapped him right across the face. and that set off will screen. bystanders applauding the officer. the video has gone viral and now internal affairs is investigating. the 16 year veteran is still on duty. after 42 years, a piece of stolen property was returned to its rightful other than owner. that property just happens to be

a painting valued at will 4 million bucks. the fbi discovered a plot to sell the stolen art work when they seized the piece and the owners paid just $750 for the painting. not bad. and finally, let's go over to california where it was quite a sight. a 12,000 pound potato sculpture arrived at an 18-foot fork in the road. the photo-op was part of the idaho commission's 75th anniversary celebration. the group towed the spud out west to help promote and upcoming food drive. i say we take the show on the road, do a little photo-op. >> follow the spud. >> national weather now with bill karins. that's just our execute to get out there and travel. >> when the president's campaign is over, there will be extra buses, take those buses and go. >> brilliant. good morning, everyone. as far as this morning goes,

getting out the door for yourself, the one piece of news you need to know if you live in arkansas, mississippi, missouri, southern illinois, tennessee, these are areas that have a chance of seeing severe thunderstorms today. almost like a spring-like set up once again. you probably femt it in the air yesterday. it's very warm. we'll add some humidity. and when the strong cold front comes through, we'll spark the severe weather late today and there is a chance of some tornadoes with this. so if you're in the little rock area to memphis especially done to jackson, mississippi, that's the favorite area if we're going to get any tornadoes late today. make sure you know that your plans just in case to keep yourself and your family safe. that would be late this afternoon into this evening. that storm is now brewing in the northern plains. it's a pretty large storm system. anyone in the plains will tell you how windy it was yesterday. it's continuing to be very windy during the day today. and now with it, we have the rain through areas of minnesota and through the dakotas. it's not a lot as far as cold air behind it, no snow or ice with this storm system. but it's just going to be a big

storm that will sit here and spin over minnesota probably for about two days and it will send those storms and rain all the way to the east coast as we go throughout today, thursday, and even into friday morning. so on the radar, not a lot of bad weather rain wise. just light rain from fargo down into sioux falls. that will go into minneapolis today. so if we have any significant airport delay, minneapolis could have delays late today, and then as those thunderstorms head through chicago, st. louis and mississippi and memphis, we could see possible delays there. but as far as the east coast goes, it will be a nice day, with the exception being florida which will be dodging showers and storms. but another october afternoon with a chance of tornadoes. hopefully it will be all misses instead of hits. well, 14-year-olds making your iphone? a new england earthquake. and an america's cup ship r runneth over. plus a police raid suspected in the deadly meningitis outbreak.

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some of the xweg stories we're following, federal agents raided the massachusetts pharmacy suspected in that deadly meningitis outbreak. an attorney for the pharmacy complained it was pointlesses since the drug maker has been cooperating. some lawmakers want the justice department to get involved. 19 new cases were reported just yesterday. a 4.0 earthquake struck you just west of portland. the jolt was felt in boston and even connecticut. struck like a bomb. that is how a museum director describes the thieves who stole seven valuable paintings. among the works missing, ha picasso and monet. now your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. 7.2 million tweets were

september during last night's presidential debate. that is less than the 10 million plus during the first debate and double the number from the vice presidential debate. the biggest reaction was from mitt romney referring to binders full of women that he considered to join his cabinet as governor full of massachusetts and people mocking the binders comment. those are just the images we can show on tv. but interviews of voters on both sides show romney still won support from some women. >> he's a businessman. businessmen can take care of -- he took care of massachusetts. i think he can take care of us. >> it's over the past four years, he has attempted to advance the economy and now that he's starting to tdo it, he nees more time. >> and there were more positive comments about president obama than governor romney on twitter's political index after the debate. it shows the president ahead by

six points, 35 to 29. actual speaking time showed president obama edging out governor romney by three minutes during the 90 minute debate and after the debate, jimmy kimmel joking about that format. >> tonight's debate was in what they call a town hall format which is where real voters get to ask questions and then the candidates ignore them and just talk about whatever they wanted to in the first place. >> and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. wall street will kick off the day with the dow starting at 13551 after climbing 127 points yesterday. the s&p jumped 14 and the nasdaq rose 36. taking a look at overseas trading on this wednesday, in tokyo, the nikkei jumped 105 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng 0 hang seng 209. mattel, goldman sachs and

johnson & johnson all turned in better than expected reports. ibm beat earnings, but missed sales forecasts which could take a toll on the dow today. intel also weighed in with lackluster profit thanks to declining nademand for pcs. michael corbat held his first conference call following tuesday's surprise resignation from vikram pandit. elsewhere, a123 systems, federally funded maker of electric car batteries, is now bankrupt despite nearly $250 million in government grants. france's privacy regulator says google's new privacy policy violates european protection rules. france could impose hefty fines if google fails to modify its policy. fx con oig, apple's largest manufacturing partner, has admitted hiring student interns as yufroung as 14 to work at it chinese factory. and rumor has it apple is ready to unveil its long awaited ipad

mini tuesday. we all know using your phone at a restaurant is a northern-n snapping photos is supposedly okay. and finally, forget 90210. 10065, exclusive area of new york's upper east side, is now the priciest zip code in the nation. alpine in second place. atherton and sagaponack and hillsborough rounded out the top five. the yanks reach the brink. and some superstar sauce sells for big bucks. plus, u.s. soccer heads to the final round of world cup qualifying. your sports is straight ahead. you're watching first look on msnbc. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more? then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools

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check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. let's get a check of sports. first to detroit for the a.l. championship series. tigers came pray s verlander pit ball through the eighth. the 2-1 win gamakes game four sudden death. a catamaran capsized while practicing for the americas cup race. the crew says the boat was making a turn when the nose went down and the boat tumbled end over end.

to hockey now. the latest labor proposal to the players association is highlighted by a 50/50 split of revenue and a full season starting november 2. a 3-1 team usa victory over guatemala. and finally, get ready to lick your chops. a gallon of barbecue sauce intended for use on mcdonald's mcjordan sandwich in 1992 has sold for nearly $10,000 on ebay. you can't make this stuff up. why would you do that? ed the sandwich was solded for a limited time and the first mcdonald's sandwich ever named after a person. throw that on ice for this weekend. and now for another look at the weather, let's check back in with bill karins.

makes me shiver. >> maybe jordan bought it himself. 10 grand is nothing. probably still good. well, good morning, everyone. here's what we're looking at in the northeast this morning. it's a cold start. 32 in albany. it will be a decent afternoon. we should have a good amount of sunshine, maybe not quite as much as yesterday, but temperatures will be a little bit warmer. should be in the mid-60s. this is very typical for what we should be experiencing this time of year. but some warmer air already heading for buffalo and pittsburgh out ahead of the next storm and that storm will be a big one. middle of the country today with windy conditions. temperatures are plunging in minneapolis and denver. same for kansas city. as the cold front moves down here, severe storm today. maybe a few tornadoes from little rock to memphis down to areas of central and northern mississippi. that will be the area of concern. but that big storm linkers. chicago, minneapolis, not a

pretty middle of the week. just ahead, super bowl puts a ring on their halftime entertainer. and wolverine goes gangham. everyone's doing it. plus, obama or romney? the all important honey boo-boo vote. you're watching "first look" only on msnbc. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again.

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time for some entertainment news. the all important hundred aoney child has chose sides. the 7-year-old reality star on told jimmy kimmel she supports president obama. but here's the catch.

this was only after kimmel told her about mitt romney's live interview on kelly and michael. so he said apparently he preferred snooki over her. so that weighed her decision. so turns out you'll have to go out and vote. and speaking of kelly and michael, they'll interview michelle obama today for a segment to air friday. it is the first lady's second appearance. >> i can't get used to saying kelly and michael. dancing with the stars spoileder alert. cover your ears and your eyes. last night bristol palin became the fifth con says tapt to be kicked off the all-star season. >> are you still watching that? >> haven't watched it once. nfl has announced beyonce will headline the super bowl halftime show. they marked the announcement with the singer posting a photo of herself sporting eye black. >> and finally, sigh dropped by the wolverine and gave hugh

jackman gangnam style lessons. >> everyone missed what you it. you did the -- >> don't out me, bill. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look." stay tuned, "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. we have not made the progress we need to make to put people back to work. that's why i put out a five point plan that gets america 12 million new jobs. and a rise in take home pay. >> he doesn't have a five point plan, he has a one point plan. and that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. that's been his philosophy as governor, that's been his philosophy as a presidential candidate. without the podiums keeping them